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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Concept Demo v3

Sorry for the delay--I was derailed by some incredibly good weather for like a week after my last post, and after finally sobering up, fixing bugs took a lot longer than I expected (well, not really, because in the end I chose to try and keep every single trivial visual-feature while rewriting the drawing engine, and guess what--it was worth it). Bug reports and feedback are both very welcome. Also, if you tried playing the earlier build(s) and experienced anything weird, it would be great if you'd try this one out and let me know if it works fine.

-NEW highscore system (after you complete a stage, you can play it in 'infinite' mode, accessible through the main menu [play->stage->infinite])-NEW brutal mode (accessible after you beat the game in story mode, though I doubt anyone will get beyond the fourth stage before checkpoints are implemented)-NEW mapped-out stage settings (haven't included anything stage specific, content wise, beyond the first stage yet, though--but the overall flow of each stage is implemented)-NEW main menu-NEW gallery (unlocked after you complete the first stage, you can see the climax after the regular rape animation has looped a few times, and you can check the [sometimes vague] unlock conditions for the sprites you can unlock [based on your overall progress])-NEW adult content warning (pre-menu)-NEW logo screen (pre-menu)-NEW options (customizable controls, screen modes, sfx and bgm switches--see the options sub-menu)-NEW save-file system (everything but the config file is obfuscated, and the files will be overwritten with default values even if a single sign doesn't match, so try not to fiddle with those files, or at least make a backup before doing so)-FIX changed the way the game handles sound file encryption (this definitely fixes missing sounds from occurring, and the occasional 'couldn't define external function' error--fingers crossed for it not breaking something else)-FIX basically rewrote the entire drawing engine (this will fix the layering glitches once and for all, and I sincerely hope it'll also stop layers from disappearing for those two or three people with systems running on charcoal instead of electricity)-FIX a handful of tweaks not worth listing

And to keep the summary short--the plan for the next (pre-release) demo is basically a bunch of technicalities, revised dialog system (you'll be able to choose whether dialogs are displayed in text, or image form), checkpoint system, second-stage content, and the first few cutscenes. It might take me a week or two, depending on how long it'll take me to decide on the style and form of the cutscenes (I already decided what the story is, but it'll be a bit tricky to introduce it to the player without confusing him too much).

B) Make sure enemies don't spawn in an impossible way, especially since stage 2 leaves no room for error. Sometimes enemies would spawn running towards your end of the platform, forcing you to wait for the lava

c) Possibly add an escape mechanism to give a chance of speeding it up

e) Pickups instead of checkpoints, e.g. limited number of double jumps, parachute for a certain time, high jump or something that saves you from falling 1 (imagine a surround wall like in break out)

That's my 2 cents. Always be aware that if your game is too difficult, people WILL loose wood and interest, especially if the enemy variety is low

One thing I have to add: The platforming controls are excellent. Not many people manage to do this, but I can do long range precision jumping onto tile edges next to spiders really well, so big kudos to that.